ASICs for the IoT Cross the Horizon

Rich Quinnell, EETimes 6/19/2015 11:00 AM EDT

SEATTLE — The recent burst of activity in the EDA, foundry, and contract chip design industries indicates that they have joined the scramble to stake out territory in the Internet of Things (IoT) market. While the design and fabrication of ASICs has broad applicability, EDA companies are now creating platforms and developing tool packages specifically to reduce barriers to entry for IoT design teams. The result may be a new wave of custom connected devices.

There are two major perceived issues with ASICs that have lead IoT design teams to work primarily with off-the-shelf resources instead, according to Huzefa Cutlerywala, a sr. director of Technical Solutions at custom chip designer Open-Silicon. "They think of ASIC design as being something long term," Cutlerywala said in an interview with EE Times. "Because time to market is one of their main concerns, IoT designers have been avoiding ASICs." The second major issue holding back ASIC use in the IOT, Cutlerywala pointed out, is risk. "It's much safer when you're starting with out-of-the-box functionality."